Design for metal additive manufacturing: Printing the AHRLAC flight grips

Abstract

Powder Bed Fusion is a process of building a part, layer-by-layer, using a Laser to melt the cross-sections of a part in a powder layer. Aeroswift is the first South African designed and manufactured PBF machine. As part of its commissioning, two AHRLAC throttle grips were built to show its functionality. The primary achievement being that AHRLAC, a South African designed and manufactured multipurpose aircraft, would be flying parts printed on a South African built machine. This paper discusses the steps that were followed to build the throttle grips; from design changes to better suit the build process, to the strategies used for the support structure design.